Don't Date Where You Drink

New Rule: Do not, under any circumstances, date someone at a bar you like to frequent. Unless you're ok with not being able to drink there again.

I made the mistake of going out once with Cory, the bouncer, from O'Sullivan's. The date was not something I wanted to repeat, to say the least, and after continuing to ask me out via text for weeks, he finally sent this as a last-ditch effort:

"So, did I screw up our date that badly or did you break your phone or something?"

And thus, I've been forced to avoid the bar for a few months. Until last weekend.

Since it was my birthday, I decided to be brave and bite the bullet (I'm not going to speculate on what role a large bottle of wine might have played in this newfound courage). I like going to O'Sullivan's occassionally and I would NOT be deterred any longer by one bad date.

It also helped that it was Friday, and Cory ususally works on Saturday.

Alas, my hopes of avoiding an awkward encounter were not realized. As the cab pulled up and I peered through the torrential downpour, I realized the face at the door was not that of an unknown stranger, but rather the one I recognized.

"Quick," I said to my friend Kelsey as I shoved her toward the door. "You have to go in first!"

She looked at me like I was crazy, which I probably am a bit, but gamely made her way to the door - allowing me to hide behind her.

When it was my turn to have my id checked, I studiously looked the other way while shoving my license into Cory's hand. Just as he started to look up and say something, I grabbed it back and ran into the bar.

I know, very ostrich-head-in-the-sand of me, and not exactly my most mature moment. And it gets worse.

Since O'Sullivan's is relatively small, the majority of standing room is in plain view of the doorway - and Cory. As we waited to order our drinks, I could feel him looking at me. This was not imagined - when I looked up, we definitely made eye contact. Argh! So much for avoidance.

And then he started to make his way into the room.

I looked frantically for someone to duck behind, but there wasn't a nice, solid guy presently available. Instead, we made our way toward the few tables, and luckily managed to find something hidden in the corner - well out of eyesight of the doorway.

Safe, at last.

At least until it was time to leave. Luckily, running out the door worked just as well as running in.

Birthday Celebration

The best birthdays all seem to have three things in common: boys, booze and baked goods. Luckily, my week-long celebration (also known as the birthday extravaganza) kicked off last week with two of the three - and there's still plenty of time to work in the baked goods (mostly in the form of cupcakes).

The rules for the annual festivities dictate the partying doesn't start until the first present arrives - so thank you Grandma for timing the delivery of your gift with Friday night! Following the present opening, the girls and I headed to Carpool to start the night.

Turns out, the birthday chant my roommate Lauren does with her elementary school kids works just as well with beer as milk - and helps attract the guys. From the "babies" fresh out of school to one that was closer to 40 than 30, the men (I use the term loosely) began to swing by the table in droves. Seriously. I've never had that many talk to my group in one night before!

As we realized this had become the theme for the evening, we started to name and call them by number. At first we thought we'd be lucky to get to No. 5, but we quickly revised that to No. 12.

The number system was all in good fun and no one objected until we got to No.9.5. He seemed a bit offended, although we think he was really just upset that he was a half instead of a whole number (since Kimberley waved him over, we decided he didn't fully count since he did not approach our table on his own).

Not to worry though - as he moved away from our table in a huff, I followed to console him and we're going out on Tuesday.

Happy Birthday to me!